Court Vindicates AHF in SRO Elevator Case; Blames Former Owner

Judgment shows Kameron Segal failed to disclose Skid Row building – Madison Hotel – had severe issues, including unfixable elevator, during sale to AIDS Healthcare Foundation in 2017

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has won its fraud case against former Madison Hotel owner Kameron Segal and his company, 423 E. 7th Street, LLC., and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick has awarded AHF a default judgment of $1.5 million in damages.

“The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets parroting the Times’ sloppy journalism repeatedly have blamed AHF for The Madison’s problems, especially its elevator outages. This judgment proves AHF did not know the elevator was problematic to begin with,” said Jonathan M. Eisenberg, Deputy General Counsel – Litigation for AHF. “The real story should be the efforts that AHF makes to keep the elevator running and to fix it as quickly as possible when it goes out. We have spent more than $600,000 on the elevator so far. The prior owner never disclosed more than a $150 receipt for repairs in the three years he owned the building.”

AHF, through its Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF) division, purchased the Madison Hotel in 2017 for $7,575,000 and renovated the Skid Row single room occupancy property to create 208 rental units for extremely low-income people in need. The building is at full occupancy, and tenants pay $400 per month.

AHF filed suit in September 2022, alleging fraud and other causes of action.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 45 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.